Xbox [tsw2] Since It's The Only Loco Available On Spg Right Now I Decided To Try The C40-8w And.....

So uh, how come it's apparently not powerful enough to actually move any of the freight services it has? It's just sitting there, revving up, but wholly incapable of getting any motion. It doesn't even get wheel slip. It just sits there.
It goes fine on eastbound helper returns, but when it's two of these pulling a train? Forget about it.

Westbound with a 4000t train the lack of helpers means it stalls out once it hits the 1.5 grade, eastbound with 5500t it can't even start moving. The whole loco is basically unusable on the route it's intended for. Is this just a "refund it, it never worked" situation?

 

It used to work okay apart from a lack of Banking Comm which was fixed later. Not tried it in a good long while though.

 

Works fine for me with banking comn

 

I turn the banking comms on first as a matter of course. The problem is there are no secondary pair of locos at the back of the train, so the banking comms won't help, the whole train is underpowered only having a single pair up front.

[edit] so after several restarts I got a consist with three of this loco pulling it, and thought for sure that the train would finally move. And this time I derailed when I took the independent brake fully off to get her moving, as I would if using the AC4400.

I'm doing my usual checklist -
Turn on banking comms (shouldn't be necessary with only a front pair, but it's instinct to do it).
Set to cut in/freight/open/lead
Insert reverser
Apply loco brake
Release automatic brake and let it equalise
Turn on generator field
Set reverser to forward
Apply throttle gently, not overdoing it
Release loco brake

 

So I have since done a lot of restarts and on the occasions when I get a three-loco consist instead of a two loco one it seems it's enough to start a 5500t train moving, but not a 7500t one. So it looks like this loco is a victim of the usual SPG randomisation where the game is all "lol you got two SD40s with no helper pair going west, enjoy stalling out halfway up with no chance of making it"

 

This seems odd, because the C40 is up there with the AC4400 in terms of power, and I've never had a problem completing a service with a pair of the latter (until the derail bug hit). Can you give some sample services that you're having trouble with?

 

I’ve used that one a ton of times on SPG with no issues.

 

Anything missing from my setup that might cause a problem with the brakes maybe? I've been trying a few different things, but I am pretty sure I was doing it right from the start with making sure the knob on the rear panel, the switch down by the control switches, the one by the brake handle and the knob right in front of the driver's seat are all set correctly.